Loki's Change
by BSWArtist
Summary: When Loki finds himself alone and unaccepted he turns to his brother and the Avengers for acceptance. The group has it's doubts, though. Loki may or may not be putting on an act. . .
1. A Brotherly Reunion

Clint slumped onto the Avengers Tower rec room couch and heaved a sigh of relief. It had been a long day. The group had been out fighting, well, they weren't exactly sure _what _they were. Obviously the creatures had been from another planet, but nothing had been found yet.

They all walked into the tower bruised, scarred, and in Bruce Banner's case, totally naked and trying to conceal himself using Steve's shield. Clint had arrived at the tower before everyone else, 1. because he was closer, and 2. Because he was quicker. Natasha walked in and once she laid eyes on Clint, let out a yelp.

"Clint! Put some pants on!" Clint jumped slightly afraid of her. He'd seen what she could do. He, of course, still had boxers on.

"But Tash! We've done a lot of hard work today! We deserve to relax in nothing but our skin! But I still have taken the liberty to at least have my underclothes on! You should be thankful!" Clint sat back with his eyes closed, before he limped to one of the back rooms after taking a punch to the face, and a foot to the crotch. Bruce followed close behind, blushing, still with Steve's shield.

Tony sauntered directly to the refrigerator and dug through it before pulling out a microwave hot pocket. "Gee, that was a bit harsh, you think? I for one, agree with him. In fact, I'm just going to my room to sleep till mid-afternoon tomorrow."

The moment Tony finished his sentence, a crash shook the building and dust from the ceiling fell. The alarm went off and Steve grunted. "Don't we _ever_ get a break here?" The "Iron Man" suit began to cling to Tony as Clint ran back out (still without clothes) with his bow at ready.

"Steve, we're the Avengers, have you forgotten?" Bruce said as he walked out with a new pair of pants.

They all eventually reached the roof of the Avengers tower and watched through the dust in the air, as a figure rose to his feet.

"Brother," a cool voice said. The dust cleared and Loki stood, with sad eyes, watching as Thor strode toward him. "Brother, I come in peace, bearing the amulet of no name. It removes all power if one wears it." Loki gestured to the charm around his neck. Thor smiled down at his brother and took him in a large hug. Loki did not return the gesture, but did not fend it off either. He only accepted as tears welled up in Loki's eyes.

"You know, that's the first time since father told you, that you ever called me Brother!" Thor held him tighter and Loki grunted. Thor let go. "Sorry, Brother."

"Wait! Loki! Why are you here?!" Clint interrupted the brotherly moment.

"I have nowhere else to go." Loki looked back at Thor. "I only have my brother. I have seen my mistakes and wish to correct them. Brother, I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Yours and your friends. I also request sanctuary."

"No." All eyes turned to Clint. "It's not going to happen. You obviously don't realize your mistakes, because you're here right now. How do you expect us to forgive you? Besides, what do you think Fury's going to say?"

"He's right. We can't take the chance of Fury." Natasha said, as she glared at Loki.

"Brother, I swear, if I could, I would grant you sanctuary. But without the amulet, you cannot gain their trust. And with it, I'm afraid, you are completely vulnerable to Fury when he sees you have no power. With or without power, Nick hates you. He always will and he never forgives. I am sorry."

The group seemed ready to walk back as Thor began to stride back to the stairs. But then something happened that none of them had ever expected to happen. The god of mischief fell to his knees, shoved his face into his hands, and started to bawl. The Avengers stared at Loki, surprised that an Asgardian could even cry. It was quite a scene to watch. Steve glanced at Thor, seeing in his eyes the memories of childhood. It definitely wasn't Thor's first time seeing this.

Thor started again to walk back and the group followed him. But Steve was bothered. Not because of the shrill cries coming from behind him, not because there was nothing he could do. It was the first time Steve realized that Loki had feelings too. Steve's whole story was based off the fact that he wanted to do the right thing. For his country. But what about his friends? Even though Loki wasn't exactly a friend, let alone acquaintance, he was still a person.

"Wait." Steve turned back and swiftly walked back toward Loki. The group watched, shocked, as the great Captain America scooped up Loki (who had fallen onto his back to hug himself) into is arms and carried him back. Loki opened his eyes and the shock was apparent on his face when his swollen eyes laid rest on Steve's face. The god's eyes rolled back into his head and his body went limp. "He'll be fine. He's just fainted from shock."

"Steve, what are you thinking?" Tony cried as he sped up to match the Captain's pace.

"I'm thinking that I'm doing the right thing."

"But he's an enemy! Steve, you can't do this. With Fury in the building, this is practically suicide. Not to mention what will happen to him. He'd be better left back there."

"Tony, I don't believe that he's _just_ an enemy. He's a person. You saw him cry. He's just like us."

"He's nothing like us! He will _never_ be like any of us!"

"TONY!" Steve stopped dead in his tracks. Tony had never heard Steve shout like that. Normally he was very laid back, but Tony could see the ferocity in his eyes. "He is more like you than any of us! I hope you have enough time to think on that!"

Steve walked away, leaving Tony in a state of shock.


	2. Phil Chooses Sides

**So I'm new to this whole fan fiction thing. Sorry the last chapter was so short. They're all most likely going to be that way. But I'll try to update more often, which I hope makes up for that. I know that feel when your favorite fan fiction doesn't update. But I'm not a patient person. So I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

Once inside, Loki was set on the couch. Everyone followed Steve without another word. Clint gave the Captain a dirty look behind his back and Natasha dug her heel into his foot. Banner seemed disgusted by being able to hear Barton's toes pop from the other end of the room.

Tony walked swiftly into one of the back rooms and slammed the door, clearly wanting to be left alone. Steve left to go change from his suit into more comfortable clothes. Clint sat at the table while Bruce took his seat in a recliner. Natasha seemed worried and paced back and forth. She looked through the glass doors on each end of the room.

Silence remained through the night and Tony wasn't seen through dinner. Nothing was reported to Fury yet, although he had called through several of the teams communicators. He called one last time, "What are you all doing?! I can kick you off the team as easily as I brought you on! I've sent Agent Coulson to come and check on you!"

At the last sentence, Natasha jumped, with obvious worry on her face. "Crap," Banner said, as his face fell into his hands and he rubbed his temples.

"Well, Steve. What do you think of Loki on our couch now?" Clint said sarcastically. Steve was obviously bothered by his sarcasm, but didn't want to lose against Robin Hood.

"Loki has his feelings too."

"Fury won't care. And you know what Coulson will do. He'll snap out his who-knows-what-combination-of-numbers-and-letters shotgun and put a bullet through Loki's head."

"Maybe we can convince Phil."

"Convince? _Convince?!_ You think you can just convince Fury's top agent _not_ to kill the guy that nearly killed _him_?"

Steve buried his face into his hands and groaned. No. No, he couldn't. He couldn't convince him. He couldn't do the right thing. He would be kicked off the team for sure.

"It's Coulson!" Natasha shrieked in panic. The door opened and Tash jumped on him in a hold of strength unexpected from a woman.

"What the-" Coulson's mouth was covered and she was able to keep his head pointed in the direction opposite of the couch. His hands fumble for the gun on his hip before she grabbed it first and emptied the shells. She kicked the shells away toward Steve, who picked them up and disposed of them outside the window. They heard a screech of car wheels, a crash, and a car alarm followed by several honks.

"That," Steve said looking out a window, "was _not_ suppose to happen."

Natasha rolled her eyes and continued to work on trying to keep the agent quiet. Phil continued to struggle but eventually gave up. He looked hopefully at Natasha, who sighed and removed her hand from his mouth.

"What was _that_ all about?!" Phil asked. Natasha looked back to see that both Loki and Banner were gone. She let Phil go and he stumbled out of her grip.

"Sorry. I… I thought you were somebody else…"

"Who _on earth_ did you think I was?!"

"Uh, you looked like a Japanese guy who kidnapped me once."

"I look _Japanese_?!"

"Uh, yeah. In this light."

Coulson turned to Clint, questioningly. Tash glared at him. Clint nodded in agreement.

"Really?" Coulson still seemed to be recovering from Natasha's hold. "Well, I still hope you don't attack _everybody_ like that. What's been going on? You haven't reported to Fury!"

This time Clint spoke. "Yeah, sorry about that. We tried, but our communicators must have like, shorted out or something."

"All of them?"

"You look at me like it's impossible."

The expression on Phil's face was priceless. He shook his head. "Where are the others?"

"Tony and Bruce are in the back, Thor left after dinner, and Steve…" Clint looked at Tash. Where _was_ Steve? Had he gone back with Banner? "He's in the back too."

Phil eyed him suspiciously. "Well, I'm going to go back there and check on them."

"NO!" Tash yelled. Coulson looked at her again. "I mean, no. They all worked pretty hard today. I think you should let them be."

The agent walked up to her and took her by the chin to make her look into his eyes. "You're hiding something…" Tash opened her mouth and stared at him. "What is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered.

"Tash, maybe we should just tell him…" Clint said.

Phil walked toward Clint. "Tell me what?"

Clint looked around as if Fury could be lurking anywhere. "We'll tell you, but you can't freak out. And you have to promise not to tell Fury."

"I can't promise anything."

"Then swear."

Coulson nodded in agreement.

"Loki…"

"Loki?!"

"Shut up! Anyway, Loki came to us for help…"

"When?"

"I said Shut up! Just after 2. But he came and at first we said no, but then Steve started to feel sorry for him and he picked him up and put him on the couch. He had like, fainted or something. But then Tony said no, and Steve yelled at Tony and then we all shut up, cause we don't like to make Steve mad. Kinda like Banner, but different. So we let Loki stay…"

Coulson stared wide eyed at Clint, not quite sure how to make since of what he said. "Loki's _here_?"

"Yeah." Phil reached for the communicator at his hip, but Natasha took him into another hold.

"You swore not to tell Fury." The agent groaned in anger. "Listen, you have to choose a side. Us or Fury. And I don't think you want to mess with us." She released her hand from his mouth.

"I don't want to mess with you? I have machines in the walls of this room that you didn't even know existed. That can destroy."

Clint spoke up again. "We have Banner."

Coulson looked up at Natasha. "So I don't really look Japanese?"

"Please? Coulson, we need as much support we can get."

"What exactly are we doing?"

**So, thanks for all the follows already! I really didn't expect that! I hope you keep reading! Again, sorry for that short chapters! And also, I don't really know what I'm doing, and I'm writing as I go. So, I really don't have a plan for this. But thanks! And I really appreciate reviews!**


	3. The Birth of a Friendship

**So sorry it's been so long, guys! I'm just starting high school, and it's crazy chaotic. I've been working on this as much as I can, so I hope you enjoy!**

"So, you're saying, we have the god of Mischief on our couch, and he still has his powers and everything?" Coulson rubbed his temples, frustrated about the whole situation.

"No. My brother's powers are removed temporarily by an Asgardian relic of ours." Thor had come back just after Phil promised to stay loyal to the group. "But if he takes the amulet off, he will have just as much strength as ever."

"And he's unconscious?" Phil glanced, uncertain, at the couch, where they had replaced Loki. Tony still had not come out. Steve walked into the rec room and Natasha ran to hug him.

"Where have you been?! We were worried sick!" Natasha cried.

"Out. I needed some air."

"So you left us in the middle of trying to _convince_ Phil?!"

Steve slouched into a chair and flipped the channels on the TV. It was all mostly news about the fight with the strange winged dog-wolf creatures. He sighed. "Still asleep?"

"No, he's off grooming an elephant." Clint said sarcastically.

"You shut up. I don't need your attitude."

Finally Steve came to the only good thing to watch on TV. Popeye the Sailor Man. Steve seemed to be the only one excited. "I remember this guy! You can never find any decent cartoons in your era! Good 'ole 1930s!"

They all sat for about half an hour when Loki started to stir. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he squinted, putting his hand in front of his eyes. He looked around and sat up. "Where-"

"Just shut up." Clint snapped.

"Clint! You don't have to yap at him! He just woke up and he's confused." Natasha walked over to Loki, making sure to grind her toes hard into Barton's foot as she passed him. "Is there anything you need? I could get you cocoa if you want."

"Don't baby him, Tash." Clint slumped into a recliner.

"Oh, you're just jealous because I don't baby you."

"Personally, I'm with Tash on this," Phil said.

Natasha walked to the cabinets to fix Loki some cocoa.

"What's cocoa?" Loki managed to ask through their conversation.

"Are you kidding me?" Clint shook his head. "my gosh, what world are you _from_?!"

Loki's eyes grew wide with sadness, and he began to cry again.

"Oh, now you've done it, Barton." Natasha walked back with the cocoa, and a hot towel. She wiped away his tears and set the cocoa in his hands. He looked at the steaming cup in his hands and held it close as if it was life itself. He sniffed.

"It's so warm." Loki looked toward Tash. "Is it meant to burn your enemies?"

Natasha laughed. "No! You drink it! It's just something to make you feel better."

Loki brought the mug to his lips, hesitated, but then drank. His eyes softened, and he sipped it again. Slowly he emptied the entire mug, but still grasped the warmth of it. Thor walked back into the rec room, spotted his brother awake and strode toward him.

"Brother! You are awake!" Thor sat next to Loki and Loki smiled.

"Yes. I am very much awake." Loki glanced at Steve who seemed to still be occupied by the TV. "Why-"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Steve said. "I'm gonna go check on Tony." he walked into the back room.

"Why would you help me?" Loki stared at the thin air in front of him.

Natasha couldn't answer him that. She didn't want to show Clint that she actually pitied and cared about Loki. She knew Steve was right. He always was. Loki had feelings and this time, unlike all the other times she had met up with Loki, she could see the honesty in Loki's eyes. They sat in silence until eventually Tash got up from the couch and left Loki, Thor, Steve, and Phil alone.

At about 10:00 PM all had gone to bed. All except Loki. He sat alone in the room and stared at Steve, who had fallen asleep watching Tom and Jerry. Why would the great Captain America help Loki Laufeyson, Liesmith, God of Mischief? After all the evil chaos he caused. Who would _ever_ want to help him?

The god heard a door open and close behind him. To his surprise Tony sat next to him on the couch and stared at the TV. "How's it going?"

"I don't know." Loki turned to Tony. "I don't know if this is truly happening, or if it is only a dream."

Tony chuckled. "That's exactly the way I feel." They sat in silence for a while until Tony finally spoke again. "I- I think I might owe you an apology."

Loki show the confusion in his eyes. "I do not understand. I am the one who must apologize. To all of you. You have done nothing wrong."

"Well, I suppose, ever since I knew who you were, I always thought of you as a power-hungry, evil dude with family issues. Now I realize I was completely wrong. Because that's not you. That's me." The silence after that sentence threatened to crush them both until Tony decided he needed to say something else. "I know how you feel, with your dad and all."

"You know nothing of my feelings. Your woman friend and your Captain are the only ones who have even considered that I may even have them."

"Everyone has feelings, whether they are from NYC, or the other end of the universe."

"You believe that. After the heartlessness I have shown all of you. You still believe that."

"Of course I do." Tony paused. "And I do get you. I had some family issues of my own, actually. With my dad…"

"Not like mine. With mine, I felt there was always competition. Between my brother and I. It shouldn't be like that. Competing to earn your father's favor."

"No, it shouldn't. But your father still cared for you."

"He used me."

"Naw. He loved both you and Thor. I think that you only think he favored Thor, because he chose him to be king. I suppose maybe that was the better choice…"

"Why is that?" Loki started to grow slightly defensive.

"I don't mean to offend you, but, I mean, look at what you did to earth…"

Loki smiled. "Yes, I suppose you're right." Loki looked at the ground. "Thank you."

Tony decided not to ask. He knew what, and it was time to settle down. "You're welcome."

They sat in silence until Loki looked back up at Tony, with tears on his face. No words were needed for Tony. Loki just needed that family love to fill in the hole left by his father. Maybe Tony could do something. Loki fell into Tony's arms and began to sob into his shoulder. Tony had never done anything like this, so he tried his best to comfort him, but this was the first time he felt like he had a loving family.


	4. A Haircut and a Smile

Tony woke up with Loki on top of him. He looked around to see Steve brewing coffee in the kitchen. Tony decided not to wake Loki and instead tried to go back to sleep. But it wasn't about to happen anytime soon. Dried tears were still visible on Loki's face, and his face was sticky from them.

Loki whined in his sleep, his eyebrows tilted as if he were scared. More tears began to stream from his eyes. _Does this guy ever run out of tears?_ Tony stroked Loki's hair, which was by now a mess of curls. Tony found this amusing, because normally it was straight. Did Loki, the God of Mischief, do his hair every morning?

"Shhhh. It's okay. Just a dream." Tony couldn't believe he was doing this. Who would've known, the famous Tony Stark would be cradling and comforting Loki? Steve glanced at them and Tony caught him with a smile on his face. "You shut up!"

"Hey, I think it's sweet!"

"It's not sweet! Nothing Tony Stark does is _sweet._"

"Whatever you say." Steve brought Tony a cup of black coffee, the way he liked it.

"Thanks." Tony nodded toward Loki. "What about him?"

Steve sat in silence. He really hadn't thought this through. "I don't know. I don't know what we'll do."

"You know we can't keep him." The hurt was practically pouring from Tony's eyes as he felt Loki stir in his sleep and cling to Tony's shirt.

"You better hope Loki wakes up before Clint, or some pictures will be taken and held against you." Just as Steve said this, Loki looked up at Tony in a cold sweat. He began to breathe very hard. He jumped off of Tony and ran into the back rooms and checked in each. He breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes laid rest on a snoring Thor. The god walked back to the couch and ran his hands through his hair.

Banner walked out of his room in full dress ready to start the day. "Can somebody please explain why Loki just opened the door in the middle of me dressing?"

Tony and Steve began to laugh. Loki chuckled. "My apologies. I feared for my brother. But it was a dream." Loki frowned.

Tony saw this. "Hey, man. What's up?"

Loki looked up at Tony. "It was a nightmare. One that I've had since I was little. Until the day my father told me who I really was, I had that dream. But then it stopped. Tonight was the first night I had it in a long time."

They all sat in silence for a while until Clint came out of his room in his boxers. He caught one sight of Loki, fell to the ground, and began to laugh. Loki's face was a puddle of confusion. Clint got up and grabbed Bruce's shoulder for support. "Dude, you're a mess!"

And a mess Loki was. Messy, curled, and greasy hair hung in his face. His eyes were red and puffy with dark circles underneath. Tears were still apparent on his shiny face, and his clothes were a mess.

Tony suddenly became aware that he was sitting on something. He pulled the object up to find that it was the locket that Loki had been wearing. Steve's eyes grew wide, but Loki yanked it out of Tony's hands and quickly threw it back around his neck. Tony and Loki both figured it must have fallen off sometime while they were sleeping.

They all lounged in the rec room and ate breakfast for the rest of the morning. Natasha, who was a late sleeper, finally woke up to check on Loki.

"We need to fix this," she said grabbing a strand of Loki's hair.

"What? Oh, yes. The curls." He blushed a little.

"No, the curls are cute. You should keep them. I was talking about the length. You look like a rock fan straight out of the 80s. Speaking of the 80s, we need to go shopping or something for clothes." Natasha ran to the bathroom to grab a pair of scissors.

At coming back, Loki looked shocked. "Cut my hair with _those_? Are you sure it's safe?"

Clint laughed. He had heard the whole thing from the door. "Don't worry, man. Natasha cuts _my_ hair. No big deal." Loki's mind seemed to have trouble imagining himself with hair as short as Barton's and his face grew worried.

"I think I'll pass."

Steve spoke up. "It's not going to be _that_ short!"

"How short will it be?"

"We'll keep it what we consider long in Midgard." Tash said. "Like… Like, um…"

"Like this." Tony held up his phone to show Loki a picture of Frodo Baggins. Loki seemed confused and still a bit reluctant.

Banner laughed. "You're comparing Loki, the brother of Thor, to a _Hobbit_?"

"What would _you_ have shown him?"

"I don't know. Maybe Josh Groban."

"The hair is the same! Who cares?! Do really care how Loki's hair is going to turn out?"

"Not really, but Loki does."

Tony looked at Bruce. Was Banner considering how Loki felt? Maybe they all had a soft spot for the poor guy. Tony turned to Loki. "Okay, how would _you_ like your hair?"

Loki felt the ends of his locks. "I don't know if I want to…"

"Loki, it would be best. If you don't people will recognize you. And people aren't exactly fond of you." Loki's face grew scared and he immediately agreed.

Tash went to work on Loki's hair right away. Loki squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth. Each time the cold metal touched his skin, he jumped, causing the frustrated agent to curse. Tony wasn't as much concerned about how the hair turned out as he was about the hair falling on his couch.

Everyone sat in silence, somehow fascinated by Loki's hair. By the time Tash was finished, Loki had tears on his face, obviously scared. It was almost humorous to watch.

"Don't worry, we're done here." Tash sat next to him and patted him on the back. "Good job." Loki opened his eyes and looked down at all the hair that had settled on his lap. He began to panic and jumped up frenzied. Tash was able to get him calmed down enough to have him look in a mirror.

Loki was shocked by the change. He looked nothing alike. His curls fell softly in front of his forehead, something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He smiled into the mirror, which made everyone able to breath again.

Tony looked at Loki. His shorter curls really brought out his eyes. Those green feline eyes. Tony got lost in them a bit until he realized that Banner was smiling at Tony. Bruce knew Tony liked Loki. He had woken in the middle of the night and creeped into the main room and caught Tony running his hand through Loki's hair. Banner knew that it wasn't serious. Yet. For them it was probably more like a family relationship. Somebody to fill in that hole in both their lives.

Tony blushed when Bruce caught him, but eventually got lost in thought staring at Loki's face. That small smile that for once wasn't the mischievous one. A soft smile. A smile that showed care.


End file.
